The mother says that her daughter was "someone else" during the frightening attack. "I came home one night from work and she was in the kitchen waiting for me and she was wearing a mask, a white mask,” said the woman, who suffered cuts on her neck and face.

She admits that her child, now being held at a juvenile detention center, has mental health issues but insists the motivation behind the violence was Slender Man. “We found things that she had written and she made reference to Slender Man. She also made references to killing,” the mother said. “She even created a world for Slender Man in the game Minecraft.”

I must confess, before these crimes, I had never heard of this tale. As the legend goes, a freakishly tall, skinny, faceless man stalks and terrorizes his prey. His presence is so menacing, it can even cause paranoia and coughing. His primary target: children. It was created in 2009 by Eric Knudsen, who has been devastated by the homicidal influence the fictional character has had.

Of course, most people are shaking their heads in disbelief that an obsession with this made-up boogie man could inspire such awful crimes. It used to be that porn and pedophiles were the biggest threat to kids on the Internet, but if this trend continues, these bizarre ghost stories should be worrisome as well. I suppose the best way to thwart this kind of thing is to stay vigilant about monitoring what your kids read online.